Sunday Rewind

November 30, 2009 — 0 Comments

This has been the most intense series I’ve ever preached…by far.

  • In my first 5 Sundays as the pastor at Crossroads, I’ve taught on The Authority of Scripture, The Doctrine of the Trinity, The Gospel, The Foundation of the Church, and The Mission of the Believer.
  • This Sunday was a “down” week due to the holiday, and yet our attendance was STILL in the triple digits!
  • And speaking of the holiday, Happy Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for.
  • The Mission of the Believer is Sanctification – which is growing in Christ-likeness.
  • One of the greatest mistakes we can make is to believe that we need to clean ourselves up BEFORE coming to Jesus.
  • Jesus accepts us as we are – WARTS AND ALL – but he loves us too much to allow us to remain that way.
  • There are three arenas that God uses most to bring about sanctification – Gospel, Community, and Mission
  • A church that centers around Gospel, Community, and Mission begins to look a lot like the first-generation church in Acts 2.
  • The church in Acts 2 saw God add to their number each day… This is our desire for Crossroads not to stroke our number-counting ego, but to reach a city with the message of Jesus Christ.
  • What next step are taking this week?
  • Are you accepting the finished work of Jesus Christ in your life?
  • Are you taking the next step of getting involved in a small group?
  • Have you considered getting connected with Twitter or Facebook?
  • Are you stepping into the mission and getting in the game?
  • You can step up and join our Setup/Knockdown Team, our Nursery Team, our Kids Team, our First Impressions Team, or our Worship Team.
  • If you don’t fit one of these teams, let’s talk and we’ll start a new team!
  • Would you like to join our mission trip to Bangladesh? Email Matt Macy for more information.
  • This week, we start a BRAND NEW SERIES called “THE GREATEST GIFT,” where we’ll explore the ramifications of Jesus’ birth 2000 years ago.
  • Whatever you do, don’t miss it!
In church, leadership

If you’ve never seen my house…

November 27, 2009 — 0 Comments

Krista and I wanted to share our house with our friends and family that haven’t had the opportunity to drive up to Wichita just yet, so we put together a “virtual tour” of the house. Check it out. Then, get in your car, drive to Wichita, and check it out in person.

We’ll see you when you get here…

Norman House Walkthrough from David Norman on Vimeo.

In personal

Your Chance to Give Hope and Health This Christmas

November 25, 2009 — 0 Comments

As we enter into the holiday season, it’s important to remember that in the middle of Black Friday madness and feeling the annual pinch on the wallet, that we are – in fact – very blessed. We are very rich according to the world’s standards.

My good friend, Chris Marlow, started a non-profit a while back that works specifically with an orphanage in Zimbabwe. He just discovered that the kids in the orphanage are only getting meat once-per-month. They’re not starving (the eat 2 meals a day with rice and beans), but in order to be healthy and grow properly, they need it about-per-week.

So H.E.L.P. has chosen to do a Christmas fundraiser. As we all gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus, spend time with family and friends, eat good food, and drink good drinks, I’m asking you to extend this “goodness” to the kids in Zimbabwe by raising $1500; which will provide them with the much needed meat for their diets.

Here are some suggestions from Chris on how you can help:

1. Donate directly to Paypal. 100% of all donations will go directly to purchasing the food. $5, $10, $25…anything helps!

2. Host a Christmas event: My friend in California is doing an “Ugly Sweater X-mas Party.” It will cost $5 to get into the party! Maybe you could do something similar!?

3. Sell something: Seriously, it’s the season of consumerism. Maybe you could pick an item, sell it, and donate the proceeds?

4. Get others involved: Your faith community, small group, youth group, co-workers, etc! Ask them to also help by donating cash, throwing-a-party or selling something they don’t need. Of course, all proceeds (Yes-100%) will go directly purchasing the food.

Here’s the main site where you can get more information or make a donation.

In culture

Giving and Giving Thanks

November 24, 2009 — 0 Comments

While this is apparently the Christmas season (at least that’s what the music and decorations already tell us), Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. And, if I’m honest here, it’s partially because of the ginormous meal that awaits me, but only partially…

The reality is that Thanksgiving is the time of year when we all pause, ever so briefly, to remember all that we have been given and in response, we give thanks. We thank God for his goodness, his provision, and our bounty. But, what would happen if we did something else?

What would happen if we not only “gave thanks,” but if we “gave” and “gave thanks?”

One of the great honors that I enjoy as the pastor of a new church is that I get to see God at work from up close. I get to watch people who (according to the world’s values) don’t have all that much actually give because they realize that the world’s values don’t match the world’s reality.

So this year, three small groups at Crossroads adopted three families in the Bel Aire, KS area. They’re providing a Thanksgiving Dinner for those who otherwise wouldn’t have one. They’re giving families that may not think they have reason to be thankful something to praise God for.

This isn’t a post to guilt or shame you into giving. I don’t have the statistics of how many across the world will actually go hungry as we log 5000 calories in one meal. But those numbers are real and staggering.

What would this Thanksgiving look like, if instead of just giving thanks, you actually gave and then gave thanks?

In church, culture

The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

November 24, 2009 — 0 Comments

Three years ago – before I would have considered myself a fan of Reformed theology – Desiring God hosted a conference exploring the topic of The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World. The conference hosted some of the leading and gifted pastors of our day who discussed different nuances of culture – truth, joy, love, the gospel, or the church – and how each of these intersect with the truth of Christ in our postmodern context. This book is a result of that conference.

I picked this book up at a Desiring God Conference held in Austin, TX last year, but just this month actually got around to reading it. Once I started reading it, most nights I was up late reading, studying, and being inspired by the wisdom and clarity of the speakers / authors.

I honestly don’t know where I would even begin to review the book, because there’s nothing I would disagree with. D.A. Carson, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, John Piper, and David Wells take the opportunity to help us discover the proper positioning of ourselves, our culture, and Jesus Christ.

This book could stand in direct opposition to the Emergent stance which unofficially appears to be “committed relationships triumph truth.” However, these speakers/authors do a better job of (like Paul) establishing the gospel, “whether there is a good relationship or not.”

In book reviews, culture, theology

Sunday Rewind

November 23, 2009 — 0 Comments

Wow! What a day!

  • Blown away by the families and athletes that were at a volleyball game in Nebraska Saturday night, and were back to setup and serve this morning!
  • Are you helping the Crossroads mission by serving? See the SERVE Table in the commons area to sign up!
  • Congrats on a great season to our Friends University Lady Falcon Volleyball Team! We’re proud of you ladies.
  • God keeps bringing new faces to our church. Again, this is not a good thing. This is a God Thing!
  • Today we looked at the foundation of the church, and what we tend to do to weaken that foundation. (Matthew 16:13-18)
  • Our responsibility is to ensure that His mission for the church is our mission. Not the other way around.
  • God’s mission for the church – “to seek and save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
  • We need to remember that we must “own” our faith, we can’t expect someone else’s to count for us.
  • The beautiful thing about our faith is that is was gifted to us by God. (Ephesians 2:8) We didn’t choose him, he chose us! Evangelism thrives when we realize that we were rescued by Jesus. Evangelism dies when we think that we had anything to do with our salvation.
  • The foundation of the church is compromised when we start to think of it as “our” church. IT’S NOT YOURS! You didn’t bleed for it, die for it, and you don’t call it your bride. The church belongs to Jesus!
  • The church isn’t some bomb shelter for Christians to escape the “real world.” The church is the means by which Jesus chooses to fulfill his mission. We are called to attack the gates of hell. We don’t need to fear them. Gates make lousy weapons.
  • Crossroads will be a church that seeks to join God on his mission to a lost and dying world.
  • We will not turn inward and exist for our own benefit. We are here to push back the darkness.
  • That is why we get excited about more people coming to Crossroads! That means that Jesus is drawing people to himself!
  • How cool is it to see Him at work in our community and our city?!
  • By the way, the Cowboys won again…barely. But barely beats almost any day!
  • Have a great Thanksgiving this week!
  • I thank God for you Crossroads Friends Church.
  • Don’t miss next week as we wrap up our UNCHANGING series as we explore what Jesus calls us to – The UNCHANGING Mission!
  • I can’t wait!
In church, leadership

Thursday Thoughts

November 19, 2009 — 0 Comments

This week during our UNCHANGING series, we’ll be taking a look at the church – what it is and what it isn’t. I’m praying that God will open our eyes to what he’s called Crossroads Friends Church to do and be.

Often, when we think of “church” we think of a building or (even more specifically) the Sunday morning service. We say things like, “I missed the opening kickoff because the preacher preached too long at church,” or “Turn right at the church.” It’s very important to realize that the church is so much more than a building or a service.

Things get silly when we make that mistake.

HT – John

In church, theology

Sunday Rewind

November 16, 2009 — 0 Comments

A brief look back on the day that was…

  • First, congrats to the Friends University Volleyball Team for making nationals! We’re proud of you girls!
  • We hosted 20 visitors this week! (Don’t take this for granted! 1/5 of our attendance this week was visitors! That’s not a good thing. It’s a God thing!)
  • Be sure to check out the new SERVE table in the commons area this week. Where are you using your gifts?
  • To those who are already serving at Crossroads, “Thank you! We couldn’t do what we do without you!”
  • This week we explored the impact of the Gospel and that is always a powerful subject.
  • The Gospel means that we don’t bear the penalty for sin any longer.
  • It also means that we don’t bear the shame any longer either.
  • There’s great power in the reality that one of Jesus’ last words from the cross was TETELESTAI! (Paid In Full)
  • One person crossed the line of faith today and chose to follow Jesus and that is why we do what we do!
  • It started to get chilly here in Wichita for the first time since we moved here. And still half of the church was in short sleeves!
  • I continue to be in awe of the church that God has called me to serve. You guys are amazing.
  • The music this morning was even better than last week. The worship team is growing and getting better each and every week!
  • This week we’ll be exploring the UNCHANGING Community that Jesus calls us to participate in – the Church!
  • I can’t wait!
In church, leadership

This Year’s Halloween

November 14, 2009 — 0 Comments
Micah as Anikin Skywalker

Ally as a scary skeleton
Caleb as a scary skeleton

I hate that I’m only just now getting these posted, but here they are. I love my kids, and since this was our first Halloween in Kansas, we didn’t exactly get bent out of shape when our younger two wanted to dress as something a little scarier than we would have expected.

What’s important is that this year, Halloween held its wonder for my kids. And for me as a daddy, that’s what I enjoyed watching.

By the way, the people in Kansas give way better candy than we ever experienced in Texas. Just saying…

In personal

John Piper on what is and isn’t the Gospel

November 12, 2009 — 0 Comments

Amen.

In culture, theology
← Older